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Sunday, March 6, 2011

Re-evaluation Time

Tomorrow the last page in chapter five will be posted. I hope you are enjoying the adventure Cathie and Quinn are on. I am having fun taking their images from my head to the page. I know there is some areas that need revision and rewording to make everything flow easier. However the story is coming together quite well.

I have noticed though that my story may end up quite short. There is a rather arbitrary number floating around the publishing world. "They" say a typical novel shouldn't be less than 80,000 words. This is especially true for first time authors.

So, based on my calculations for this novel I might not make it to 80 thousand words. After the post tomorrow (chapter five, page three), I will have produced about 13,900 words. I am figuring that this point of the story is a little less than one third of the way to the finish. Which will put the novel at about at barely 50,000 words.

If I was writing this on my laptop for my eyes only, I wouldn't panic. I would write what I have in my head and then let my imagination kick in when I do my first re-write. Typically, when an author enters the revision stage you are looking to reduce your novel. To condense it, making it more palpable to the reader. This is one of the keys to being a best-selling author taught by none other than Stephan King. However I will have to put that concept into reverse and try to add more scenes, more background information and more action.

However, because this novel is shared with many eyes, I am putting out a request to you the reader. If there are times when you read that you wish you had more information, let me know. Or perhaps you just felt cheated a little with the briefness of a scene, I invite you to share it.

Now, I have to say there are some very obvious places that the reader must be kept a little in the dark. That adds to the suspense and the anticipation. I am not going to let the cat out of the bag too soon. There are other places though that I as the author "know" the background of a scene but may have neglected to share it you the reader. These are the best places to increase word counts.

I would love to hear from you any places you wanted more. That can apply to past chapters and all the ones to come in the future. Become an active participant in my story.

3 comments:

When I was first reading I remember there being a couple of places that I was a bit confused, wishing there was a bit more info...but I just went back & read the whole thing & only came up with that one spot...so I think all my questions must have been resolved...which I think means that you did a really good job of making it suspenseful:) I'll keep my eye out though.